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My wife and I had a long weekend, so after we put the kids to bed, we were ready to settle into some late Sunday evening entertainment. We decided it'd be a good use of our leisure time to catch up on some movies using our subscription to a movie service through our gaming console. We bought these technogadgets and thought we'd be able to use them at our discretion. Silly me.
As I fired up the entertainment center, I was admonished by the television that I needed to update the firmware for the console and re-download the subscription software for the movie service. Now mind you, these things were working fine from my perspective since the last update intrusion. And I mean, perfectly fine. I didn't want an update. I wanted to watch a movie. Updating software and firmware is a lot like work, and it's Sunday night! There was no workaround, no abort option, no choice at all. It's Sunday night, and I'm feeding the machine. It seems I'm doing a lot of that lately.
It appears the powers-that-be in the computer world are rigidly governed by the "more isn't enough" approach to technological development. Even when things are working well, there's always another bell or whistle to add. These technocrats just haven't absorbed the adage: "If it ain't broke don't fix it." And that would be fine if it were just their problem, but I'm noticing that their blind ambition toward advancement is becoming a problem for the end-user.
How much time in the last week have you spent needlessly dealing with the care and feeding of your computers and technical gadgets? Between emptying your junk email box, reporting spam, updating your smartphone apps, or OK-ing a browsing session?
Have you noticed - perhaps not in a Terminator 2 fashion but still in a tyrannical manner - that computers have taken over?
I mean when it comes to my printer, if I run out of cyan ink, then I can't even print a document of only black text until I replace the blue cartridge? Who is the boss around here? I don't get what I want until the machine gets what it wants.
I was listening to satellite radio last week, and during the ONLY show I pay the subscription fees for, the audio shuts off and the display indicates that new channels are being added. After missing five minutes of the show I actually want to listen to, I've now been "upgraded" to having another dozen useless channels.
And can someone explain to me why I need to bolster my social media sites so they're 100% updated? One of my sites says I'm only 85% of the way finished, and I already feel like I have bared my soul to The Cloud. I don't wanna share anymore. Where was my informed consent disclaimer that I'd be subjected to feelings of inadequacy by just trying to link in with other people?
I had a cool iPhone app that served as a flashlight. Unbeknownst to me, after the automatic "update," the default flashlight setting became a colored strobe light! I needed to use this app, and instead of finding my way in the dark with it, I was subjected to an impromptu rave and a seizure! Who needs that? I just wanted to find my way around the back of my entertainment center so I could optimize its performance.
And speaking of finding my way around, exactly how many voices do I need emanating from my vehicle's GPS? It seems I can get directions spoken to me by people with different accents (and even a Darth Vader voice). Great, so now I can get lost in lots of different dialects. Excuse me GPS makers, how about working on getting me from point A to point B without having to drive through a corn field, over a defunct bridge or against one-way traffic? That last update included a sexy British lady's voice, so uh, thanks for that, but she wasn't much company when I was stuck on a dead end street.
And speaking of dead end streets, how about these new ATM's with the check scanning feature. Things were just fine when I dropped the envelope in the machine for the last eight years, but now it's necessary that it scans every single check. If check writer doesn't write legibly enough, it rejects the deposit and you have to go inside the branch office, which isn't very convenient for folks who need to make deposits after the bank closes.
I'm simply looking for some validation from other human beings here: Do we really need so much more of these forced add-ons and upgrades? Hasn't this progress actually hit a plateau? Even if you disagree and you think more isn't enough, shouldn't we at least have a choice before having to install this stuff or deal with new-and-disapproved technology?
And this diatribe has yet to mention the outright crashes, reinstalls, rescue discs, critical reboot problems, CTRL-ALT-DEL gang signs, and blue screens of death many of us have had to deal with... I'm just talking about the constant feeding and caring for electronics that competes with our actual desire to use these inanimate objects that, ostensibly, are supposed to make our lives easier and more enjoyable.
Feh.
Who is it that keeps making these machines so hungry for more attention and more of our time? Are we dealing with H.A.L.? Skynet? The Priests of the Temple of Syrinx? Whoever it is, the responsible party is completely consumed with the "more isn't enough" mentality. And I'd really like it if they could just pull the plug.
